anyone can cook.

I can finally cook to save my life!
I started baking when I was in high school, and baking and cooking are very different from each other! In baking, every single measurement, the temperature, the time are all exact. While in cooking, I've been told, its more on gut feel. Naku! Hanggang fried egg at hotdog lang ang napapainit ko. But that was before.

Steak cooked rubbed with salt, pepper, and rosemary, then cooked in olive oil and garlic.
Rice cooked in the pan where the steak was cooked.
Prawns cooked in garlic, onions, and butter.

It all started when JC came back from an out of town trip and to surprise him as soon as he would get back and visit me, I decided to cook. Just the most random thought! The day before he arrived, I got all the ingredients to cook steak and prawns, his favorites. Of course my mom and my yaya Virgie helped me every step of the way (para hindi naman masayang yung groceries dahil masusunog lang) to make the surprise meal a success!

Thankfully, he loved the meal. Woohoo! Plus points for me!

The next time, it was another random night where I was free from work and JC was free from work as well. I asked my mom and yaya Virgie for another easy recipe to cook, and they suggested a Pinoy classic.. Bistek! Yes, beef steak na Pinoy. I added buttered vegetables this time to balance the meal.

Broccoli and corn cooked in butter and sprinkled with pepper.
Beef steak marinated in toyo, calamansi, and pepper, then cooked in garlic and onions.


I was starting to enjoy trying to cook, plus, it became twice as enjoyable because the person I was cooking for liked the food too. Decided to make for JC a quick egg dish I've loved since childhood, that my mom calls "Argentinian egg". (Not sure why, but that's what they call it.)

Saute garlic and onions in olive oil, then put in sliced tomatoes, then the egg, then a bay leaf and pepper.

I think of the five (haha, yes just five) dishes I know to date, I think this is one of JC's favorites.

For reasons I still am not sure of, I was asked to share a recipe for a show. I wanted to make something not so common but still very basic, so my mom suggested I make pininyahang manok. And what do you know! After the episode aired, I got so many tweets and even twitpics about people who tried the dish! For a non-cook like me, that's so awesome!!!!

So to share with those who may want to try it, here is the pininyahang manok recipe:

Ingredients: chicken, pineapple chunks, liver spread, grated cheese, garlic, and onions.

Procedure: Saute the garlic and onions in very little oil, then place the chicken parts. Cover and allow to cook/simmer. After about ten minutes, put the pineapple chunks (with a bit of the juice), liver spread, and cheese. Mix it, then cover and allow to cook. Mix everything from time to time and in about twenty minutes, Its done!

Thank you to everyone who appreciated this recipe. I still can't believe people actually tried it! Not to be biased, but it is really a delicious dish. One of my favorites, which is why I wanted to learn it.

I have no grand dreams to study culinary nor do I aspire to become a chef. I simply want to learn how to cook different Pinoy dishes and several lutong bahay favorites for my loved ones!

So if Anne Curtis had dreams of singing and is now a recording and concert artist, I've had dreams of cooking simple dishes at home, and now I'm slowly making that come true! To all those who thought they may be hopeless with learning how to cook, do not lose hope! I could never cook to save my life before, and now I know five dishes! And will hopefully learn another new dish soon.